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Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender resume

What the work involves, what it pays, and grounded tasks, skills, tools, and experience you can choose from.

Also called knife setter, machine setter, nail setter and nailhead setter.

$43,380
Median pay a year
61,420
People do this work
6
Resume lines ready for you

Real figures for this work, and lines you can use in your own resume. Where they come from is at the foot of this page.

An example

A Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender resume, filled in

Common skills that can help you remember what you used on the job.

  • Operating woodworking equipment
  • Setting equipment controls
  • Mounting attachments or tools
  • Monitoring equipment operation
  • Marking equipment with labels
  • Inspecting production equipment
  • Inspecting lumber
  • Conducting test runs of equipment
  • Measuring product dimensions
  • Determining equipment settings
  • Selecting production materials
  • Selecting production equipment

Every line comes from the same public record as the rest of this page. The greyed parts are the ones only you can answer.

Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender

Summary

Woodworking machine setter and operator, setting up and tending machines like drill presses and lathes, inspecting wood for defects, and ensuring smooth operation and safety in the work area

Experience

Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender

Where you worked

Month Year to Month Year
  • Set up, operated, and tended woodworking machines like drill presses and lathes
  • Examined finished workpieces for smoothness and checked dimensions with tools
  • Started machines, adjusted controls, and made trial cuts to ensure proper operation
  • Monitored machine operation and made adjustments to fix problems as needed
  • Inspected raw woodstock for defects and ensured it met size standards
  • Fed woodstock into machines to produce desired components and shapes
  • Cleaned and maintained machines and work areas to ensure safe operation

Skills

Hands-On Work
Operating woodworking equipment, Setting equipment controls, Mounting attachments or tools
Core Skills
Monitoring equipment operation
Checking & Planning
Marking equipment with labels, Inspecting production equipment, Inspecting lumber, Conducting test runs of equipment, Measuring product dimensions, Determining equipment settings

Education

  • High School Diploma
    Your school, Year

Yours will not say this. You choose what matches your experience, and every line remains yours to confirm or change.

Change it to anything you like. Rung will find the closest match with you.

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What to put on a Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender resume

Real duties for this job, already written the way a resume reads. Inside Rung you choose the ones that were yours.

becomes

On your resume

  • Set up woodworking machines and adjusted controls to ensure accurate cuts and specifications
  • Started machines and conducted trial cuts to verify proper operation and quality

These are written the way a resume line reads. Rung asks which ones are actually yours, keeps your own words, and never claims work you did not do.

Then it asks for one more thing

The line that could show more, and the fact that lands it.

Make it stronger

A few lines could show more. Each one is asked, and answered by choosing.

Add how many machines you set up each shift

The line

Set up several woodworking machines each day and adjusted controls for accurate cuts and specifications

Add how many machines you set up each shift

Pick one that fits

Several machines each dayA few machines per shiftMost of the shop's machines

Adding it to the line…

Added to your resume
Show what improved once the machines were started

The line

Started machines and conducted trial cuts to verify proper operation and quality

Show what improved once the machines were started

Pick one that fits

Improved quality of finished productsEnsured smoother operation of machines

Adding it to the line…

Added to your resume

Every ready answer is in plain words, never a figure. Nothing is invented to fill a gap.

The work itself

What a Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender does

The public record of what this job is, in one paragraph.

Set up, operate, or tend woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, and wood nailing machines. May operate computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment.

What it pays

How much does a Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender make?

Annual pay across the United States. The middle figure is the median: half earn less than that, and half earn more.

25th percentile$37,100
Median$43,380
75th percentile$48,720

About 61,420 people do this work in the United States.

What it pays in each state
State25th percentileMedian75th percentile
AL$31,800$36,750$45,390
AR$28,540$36,850$48,480
AZ$37,480$39,440$46,510
CA$39,540$46,370$49,670
CO$36,590$46,500$55,430
CT$39,450$47,140$50,630
FL$36,910$38,740$47,540
GA$33,280$37,380$45,250
IA$49,460$51,200$57,470
ID$39,090$45,730$48,870
IL$38,290$41,360$46,220
IN$37,170$41,600$47,610
KS$35,260$43,580$48,580
KY$37,110$38,080$43,440
LA$43,010$47,170$52,920
MA$39,130$46,430$49,730
MD$39,020$46,470$52,000
ME$38,280$44,370$48,410
MI$43,320$47,680$49,040
MN$48,720$51,540$57,980
MO$36,370$38,640$45,740
MS$33,280$42,090$47,150
MT$36,120$45,610$49,770
NC$32,210$37,550$44,870
ND$40,850$45,820$46,630
NE$44,640$49,190$49,190
NH$40,970$46,450$49,740
NJ$38,020$49,680$68,100
NM$36,360$38,650$45,910
NV$35,110$41,090$48,210
NY$38,740$43,720$54,650
OH$36,720$43,930$50,390
OK$33,640$35,990$38,840
OR$47,270$49,480$56,680
PA$38,270$44,980$49,770
PR$21,840$21,840$21,840
RI$37,210$45,880$48,560
SC$37,270$41,990$48,390
SD$36,510$41,740$47,210
TN$31,500$35,290$40,310
TX$28,790$33,840$39,570
UT$37,000$39,260$46,000
VA$36,720$39,370$45,160
VT$42,900$46,480$49,050
WA$47,610$52,980$58,980
WI$37,570$44,450$47,680
WV$30,730$40,020$47,620
WY$36,400$39,930$45,000

Other names

Other names for this job

knife setter, machine setter, nail setter, nailhead setter, woodworking machine setter, woodworking machine setters operators and tenders except sawing, adzing and boring machine operator, artificial log machine operator, automatic clipper, automatic nailing machine operator, automatic profile shaper operator, balloon sander.

More names for this work

band nailer, bander, barker operator, barrel builder, barrel charrer, barrel lathe operator, barrel maker, basket assembler, basket braider, basket maker, basket weaver, bender machine operator, bending frame operator, blind slat stapling machine operator, board finisher, borer, boring machine operator, bottom hoop driver, bottom turning lathe tender, bottom turning lathe turner, bowl turner, box blank machine operator, box stapler, briar cutter, bucker, bucket chucker, bucket turner, burn table operator, cabinet maker, checkering machine adjuster, chip machine operator, chip mixing machine operator, chipper, chipper machine operator, chucking and boring machine operator, chucking machine operator, chucking machine set up operator, cleat blanker, cleat maker, cleater, cnc wood lathe operator, computer numerical control wood lathe operator, computer numerically controlled wood lathe operator, copy lathe tender, core composer feeder, core layer machine operator, cork grinder, cork molder.

What you can already claim

Starting a Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender resume with no experience

Below are the tasks a Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender job is made of. Choose the ones you have really done. There is no wrong answer here, and you can change any of it later.

Which of these tasks have you actually done?

4 chosen. Rung never adds a task you did not choose.

  • Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender

    Already yours: Setting equipment controls, Mounting attachments or tools, Conducting test runs of equipment

    4 of the 12 tasks this job is made of

    Median pay$43,380 a year

    What you have not done yet. Monitoring equipment operation, Marking equipment with labels, Inspecting production equipment

    Build a Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender resume

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Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender

  • Setting equipment controls
  • Mounting attachments or tools
  • Conducting test runs of equipment
  • Determining equipment settings

Nothing here was invented. Every line is something you chose above, and it comes with you when you start.

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Nearby work

Jobs similar to Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender

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Where these numbers come from

This page is about the occupation Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing. What this job involves and what it is made of come from O*NET 30.3, the US Department of Labor's occupation database, refreshed July 2026; Rung writes those records into the plain sentences you see. Pay comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS release for 2025. How Rung handles accuracy is on the accuracy page, and the full data credits are on the credits page.